Assistant Professor
Dr. Coombs completed her doctoral training in health policy and nursing at the University of California San Francisco and went on to complete a NIH T32-supported postdoctoral fellowship in Interdisciplinary Training in Cancer, Caregiving & End-of-Life Care (T32NR013456) at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah. Dr. Coombs has been on faculty as a tenure track Assistant Professor since 2020 and remains active clinically with 20 years’ experience as a board certified (Family and Oncology) Nurse Practitioner.
Dr. Coombs research is focused upon three areas: geriatrics, geriatric oncology, and workforce. Current research projects include a Lineberger Award funded study developing a Values Assessment Tool (VAsT) for use with women who have metastatic breast cancer and their caregivers; and a current project with Shepp’s Workforce Center (Fraher, P.I.) assessing the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse workforce in North Carolina.
Dr. Coombs is also the recipient of the Cancer Information & Population Health Resource New Investigator Project, titled “Metastatic Lung Cancer in North Carolina: an analysis using cancer registry and claims data from 2010-2019”. Her research extends across a large secondary data set analysis such as cancer registry, claims and SEER as well as mixed methods and intervention development.
Dr. Coombs has mentored doctoral (PhD) students, Doctor of Nursing practice (DNP) students, medical students through the MSTAR program, residents, and undergraduate honor’s projects.
Prior to earning her PhD and postdoctoral study, Dr. Coombs completed a post-master’s Family Nurse Practitioner at University of California Los Angeles School of Nursing, Los Angeles, CA in 2003 and practiced as the first hematology nurse practitioner at Kaiser Permanente, her previous clinical positions included hematology/oncology nurse practitioner at San Francisco General Hospital and Stanford Cancer Center in California. She currently teaches Advanced Diagnostic Reasoning N752 and co-teaches Advanced Health Assessment N750 in the School of Nursing. Dr. Coombs also taught quantitative measurement, advanced health assessment and research scholarship to graduate students at UCSF. She is very invested in social justice and equity issues, especially around educational opportunities.
Elected to Board of Directors for the Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology, 2023-2026.
2022 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting Session Chair, Nurse, and Home Care workforce shortage—Projections, Shortage, and Implications in Covid-19, AcademyHealth, Annual Research Meeting Washington, DC
2019 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting Session Chair, Novel Workforce Methods, Academy Health Annual Research Meeting Washington, DC
2017 Best Gerontology Practice Abstract Award, Western Institute of Nursing 50th Annual Research Conference
Lineberger Developmental Award 2022-2024 $90,000 for Values Assessment Tool (VAsT) for Women with Metastatic Breast Cancer and their Caregivers.
Additional Expertise & Specialties:
